Snippet Detail
- A few years after the station opened, the vicar of Ingleton parish church began holding religious services for the local community in the waiting room and a harmonium was provided to accompany the singing.
- In 1938, Ribblehead station was used to collect meteorological data and regular weather reports were sent to the Ministry of Defense (the weather-forecasting arm of which later became the Met. Office). The Station Master and other members of station staff received special training for these duties. It is still possible to find-out about current weather conditions in the 'Three Peaks' area courtesy of the modern automatic weather station installed on, beside and inside the main station building at Ribblehead: to view the online weather report, see https://www.mylocalweather.org.uk/ribblehead/
- Ribblehead station officially closed for goods traffic on the 7th of November 1966 and for passenger traffic on the 4th of May 1970.
- The 'up' (southbound) platform re-opened on the 29th of September 1986 and a new 'down' (northbound) platform was opened in 1993 (the old one having been demolished in 1970 (or shortly thereafter) to allow the sidings for Ribblehead Quarry to be expanded).
- The roof on the main station building at Ribblehead was renewed by Railtrack in 1997.
- The Settle and Carlisle Railway Trust acquired a 125 year lease on the main station building in September 1999 (at a 'peppercorn rent') and set-about restoring the rest of the structure. As part of these works:
- The covered entrance lobby / porch (adjacent to the southbound platform) became a waiting room for rail passengers.
- The former Booking Office and Booking Hall were converted into a visitor centre / museum.
- The former Porters’ Room became a small shop.
- The northern-end of the building was converted into a caretakers' flat:
- the Gents’ Toilet block became a small kitchen and utility / storage area;
- the former Ladies’ Waiting Room became a lounge; and
- a new first-floor level in the roof-space provided space for a bathroom and small bedroom.
- The new Visitor Centre was officially opened by Steve Macare (Chairman of the Yorkshire Dales National Park) on Saturday 14th October 2000. The total cost of the restoration was estimated to be in excess of £200,000. According to the November 2000 edition of the FoSCL Magazine: "Most of the funding has been by grants or assistance from local and national bodies including English Heritage, European Union Development Fund, FoSCL (£19,000), train operators Northern Spirit, Railway Heritage Trust, Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Yorkshire Millennium Trust".
- The caretakers' flat proved to be uncomfortable for its residents, especially in winter so, during the Winter of 2010-11, the former lounge area on the ground floor was converted into a cafeteria and shop.
- The Visitor Centre & cafeteria / shop were refurbished again during the Winter of 2016-17.
Acknowledgements
Knowledge base compiled by and © Mark R. Harvey. Some of the information was kindly supplied by W.R. (Bill) Mitchell, Martin Pearson and Nigel J. Mussett.